Selected Works

Firm Bio

Who we are

We are a New York-based full service architecture firm with over ten years of experience in the repair, preservation and restoration of buildings. We approach each project, large or small, with the same level of attention and value, far exceeding the standard level of professional care. Beginning with a detailed investigation of each project’s unique conditions, we integrate our client’s budgetary, programmatic and aesthetic goals to devise and implement a solution that is both attractive and pragmatic. Our team recognizes that a design is only as good as its execution and is dedicated to every project from inception through completion to ensure we achieve quality design that is built well. Through traditional construction methods and new construction technologies, we find innovative solutions to immediate and long term concerns of building maintenance and preservation.

We are creative problem solvers dedicated to a hands-on approach that brings a passion for craftsmanship into all phases of our projects. We offer direct access to our principal and project managers and are committed to working closely with property owners maintaining an open, transparent line of communication and ensuring dedicated personal attention throughout.

What we do

We view the preservation and re-use of new and historic buildings as a critical practice in the sustainable stewardship of our environmental resources. Buildings represent an incredibly high embodied energy, that is the energy and resources expended to build them, as well as what would be required to replace them. As experts in the preservation of historic structures and the adaptive re-use of existing buildings, we are strong advocates for preservation as one of the most beneficial green practices that can be offered in building construction.

Our approach is enthusiastic and sensitive to the history of structures, while pragmatic about their present needs to ensure that these buildings remain active contributors to our urban fabric. We practice architecture with a hands-on approach that is responsive to the craft of traditional building materials, yet progressive in the implementation of new technologies. We have in-depth knowledge and experience in specifying, detailing, and fabricating a broad range of traditional materials. Our practice directs this immediacy of materials toward preserving the historical character and architectural significance of the buildings under our care.

We feel our approach to the restoration of existing and historic building shells, integrated with innovative technologies and the design of new programmatic uses, is what makes our firm unique.

Care of Traditional Building Magazine, “Casting Call”:

Henson has developed a kind of sub-specialty in such dusty crannies and daring vintage architectural materials around New York City. In recent years he has secured the envelopes of everything from Flemish Revival stepped parapets to Colonial Revival limestone corner quoins, copper mansards, Beaux-Arts gilded domes, 1930s skylights, 1960s concrete balconies and 1980s curtain walls. Clients keep coming in with unique building conditions compromised by weather, time and gravity, or building components in some unexplained state of duress. “Those are the kinds of challenges I love,” he says, “and that are important to me for my work as a preservation architect.” - Eve M. Kahn